by T S Paul
“Trypano… Trypanoso…” Cat tried pronouncing the disease.
“Trypanosomiasis. Sleeping sickness. It’s an African disease spread by insects. It wasn’t until they got the blood work back that they noticed a decrease in their white blood cells. Some of them were missing as much as a full pint of blood.” Chuck replied.
“Wow. That much? Do you think she starved herself until then?” Bill asked.
Agatha nodded. “We’ve all seen her eat regular food. But we don’t know how long she can go without a snack or three. I stopped her from feeding off of us so it may have been at least a week since she had any when she left. By bus, that trip would have been very hard. Especially surrounded by food you don’t dare eat.”
“So she held out as long as she could. I understand,” Bill agreed.
“Chuck, pull up all camera images for that time period. Look a day before and a day after. Check any surrounding cameras such as ATMs and traffic cams too,” Agatha ordered.
Cat looked at Agatha. “Do you think she called Ivan from there?”
“She may have. If she had a burner phone, she might have ditched it already. I know you’re incredibly busy, Chuck, but can you see if any of the police departments were using a Stingray when the bus rolled through town?” Agatha asked.
Bill answered. “Smart thinking, boss. That information may not be in our system. I know a guy over at No Such Agency. He should be able to tell us, in the spirit of inter-agency cooperation.”
Agatha laughed. “What are you paying him with?”
Bill pursed his lips. “I might have a bottle or two of wine he might like. I’ll email him right now. Stingray tracks call length, numbers called, and any data sent across the service. The OSS uses it to track spies from other nations, but the technology has leaked into law enforcement uses. If we couple it with PRISM, my friend should be able to see if she called Ivan by name.”
“And PRISM is?” Cat asked.
Bill laid one finger beside his nose, then tapped his lips. “That, dear girl, is on a need-to-know and I barely know. Best to forget that particular acronym.”
Agatha waved her hand. “We’ll let Bill deal with his spooky friends. Concentrate for now on the bus station cams and instances where we know she’s eating. Keep on it. I need to call the Director.” She stood and stepped out of the main room into, ironically, Anastasia’s chamber.
Looking at the pictures arrayed upon the wall brought a tear to Agatha’s eye. Ana was a friend. Losing her in this mess was very hard. Having to chase Ana to the ends of the earth was the hardest thing she had been ordered to do. The witch shook the thoughts from her head and pulled out her own cell phone. Carefully she cast a spell and dialed the phone.
“Hello, dear.”
“Grandmother, we have a lead on Anastasia. Ivan Vasily has resurfaced. If you remember, he was the one I wanted to send to you for training,” Agatha stated.
“I remember. Neither he nor the Agents with him showed up here. Cappy investigated it.”
“Right. I think that Ana may have made him her servant somehow. Is that possible?” Agatha asked.
“That, my dear, is completely possible. Was she alone with him for any length of time?”
“She was. An entire day while we were investigating. That was the case in which we had to fight that Werewolf Pack.”
Marcella sighed into the phone. “Making a servant is very similar to making a regular Vampire. The victim is drained nearly to death, and then, unlike creating a Vampire, they are revived. The process is repeated three times. Each time it weakens the human, making them that much more susceptible to the Vampire virus. With the third bite, a large amount of Vampire blood is forced down the human’s throat. If, and I do mean if, they recover they are loyal only to the one that created them. They will obey any order even at the cost of their own life. If Verity were still among the living, she could have told you more of this. She alone of our family, until you, befriended one of the Royals. You will have to look, but I believe she called her Aeliana.”
“Thanks, Grams. Does the servant have any powers?” Agatha asked.
“Not like a true Vampire would. Becoming a servant strips them of any existing powers. This Ivan fellow would have gradually lost any Witch powers he was born with. The compact the Vampires have with their Goddess allows only one power. Hers.”
“Goddess? What Goddess? The Vampires have a Goddess?” Agatha asked.
“Agatha, dear. I’ve said entirely too much. When you take control of the Coven, we will talk about all of the secrets. There is so much I need to tell you about. Be aware that the Vampire Council has sent their own hunters after your friend. They may try to use you to get to her. Be safe and trust in yourself.” Marcella hung up the phone.
Agatha stared at the phone in her hand. She just hated it when her grandmother gave her strange and mysterious warnings. Dialing another number, she called Director Mills to report in.
<<<>>>
“How does the plan progress?”
Dragon Ambassador Dimachaerus fell to his knees and bowed. His head touching the floor he spoke. “All according to your wishes, my lord. The Strega did as we suspected and brought forth a Prince of Hel.”
Lord Leomaris began to laugh. The entire cave complex shook as the gigantic Dragon roared. “They took the easy way rather than the safe way. If they had used the undead spell, they might still be among the living. Typical Earthlings. Are the gates weakening as we planned?”
The ambassador pressed his head lower to the floor. “We are not sure, great one. I have sent servants to check, but the Garden is holding fast. We may have to use the Demon portals.”
“That is not acceptable. Send word to Hel, inform the princes that we will reward them if a gateway is opened in America. Warn them that if we must use the Conception portal that they will pay the price. There can be only one Empire, and it is ours.”
The ambassador shook his head in agreement. “All will be done as you asked.”
The floor trembled and shook as Lord Leomaris, the leader and rightful king of the Dragons, passed and left the room. Dimachaerus raised his head and smiled. War was coming, and there was nothing the human race to could do to stop it. Nothing.
Chapter 15
The ritual to make a Royal is long and tedious for both the intended and the Vampire that performs it. And it’s very, very personal. So personal, in fact, that the two beings involved become as close as mother and daughter or father and son.
My Master, Alukah, performed the transformation on me five years after I entered the city. It took that long before they could truly trust me. Vampires aren’t necessarily evil, but we are extremely cautious. Trust is a big deal among my kind. To discover my wants and needs, I was assigned the nastiest and most dangerous tasks in the city. Feeding the Echidna wasn’t even the worst chore I performed.
<<<>>>
Agatha is not the only being that is regularly visited by Gods. The Vampire race came into being through the actions of a Goddess. To us, she was called Kleidouchos or the Keeper of the Keys. The Greeks called her Hekate.
Each key held by the Goddess represented a power or trait that only Royal Vampires had. As the keys of the Goddess, we were to be the protectors of the Gates and the Guardians of the Underworld. Politics and strife tore us away from those duties in time, but when I was transformed, the city of Stari Ras still held to our original mandate.
Alukah anointed me with oil as he muttered words in what he later said was Babylonian. “In the name of the Goddess, I bless you. In the name of the God, I bless you. In the name of Cerberus, I bless you.”
I was lying upon a bier made of pure white marble, naked as my mother gave birth to me. My Master explained that I would be reborn and it was necessary. To me, it felt as if I was on display for all to see and it made me terribly uncomfortable at the time. Nudity was fairly blasé among paranormals, but at the time I was still human.
“You will stand at the threshold of life and de
ath. Protecting the Underworld from the actions of the living.” Alukah placed sacred herbs and stones of power around my body and upon what he called my centers of power: my heart, head, and hands.
“May the Goddess bless you and keep you.”
Being around Witches several times later in my life, I know what power feels like. At the time though I was ignorant, but I do remember the surge of energy that I could feel building inside my body. It was almost a fugue state that overcame me. I could see my Master’s face and hands as he bent my head and lowered his head to my neck. I felt a sharp prick on my neck, and then an ecstasy flooded my young body that I had never experienced before. Before the blackness took me, I saw Her, and she spoke to me at the end of my life.
“Welcome to the threshold of life. This is your crossroads. Choices will be made and promises broken. What happens here will change your life and those around you forever. Do you wish this to happen or are you ready to pass from this world to the next?” The woman speaking could only be the Goddess. No one else in the city would give me such a choice. Vampires were beyond that.
“I don’t understand. Alukah said this part was easy. That I would pass from one world to the next.” I replied, puzzled.
The shining light that surrounded her dimmed. I could see what appeared to be a young woman standing before me. “Alukah is but one of our servants. His transformation served a specific purpose. That was then. This is now. It is your time. The future is clouded and mysterious, but we know you have a place in it. You are a pivot. A cleft point in history. What you decide here will change things forever. Good or bad you will have to choose.”
Thrashing to one side, I broke free of my bonds securing me to the bier. “I don’t understand! What choice do I have? Am I to be a Vampire or not?”
The figure of the Goddess changed. She was older more experienced looking. A swaddling babe suckled at her breast. “Do you truly wish to become a Guardian? To spend your life watching the gates and fighting those who pass through?”
I winced and gritted my teeth. “No.”
“Why become one then? Your destiny is not here among them. Why do you stay?” The Goddess asked.
“Because I have no choice. I don’t want to become the rabbit. Always on the run, always in fear of my life. One to be used and abused by anyone. I want to be able to protect and defend myself. The Vampires are but a tool in that regard,” I replied.
“A tool you say? More like a knife. A knife encased in shadow.” The Goddess in her mother form ran her hand down my side. I could feel her ice cold fingers on my skin.
“What if you could leave? What would you do?”
“I want to make a difference in the world. My father didn’t raise me to lay down in the dust and die so easily,” I answered.
“No, he did not.” The mother Goddess looked down at me and smiled. “We are giving you a choice, child. You would be advised to take it.”
This was the Goddess, and I knew I should be more reverent, but I wanted to understand. “What choice? What is it I’m supposed to do?”
The Goddess form shifted yet again. An old, old, woman stood before me. She was cloaked in darkness. In one hand, she clutched a torch. “You must choose. Will you obey the laws of the Vampires and follow your Master in all things? Or will you disobey your Master and choose the living over the dead? Both are similar, and both lead to separate destinies. Choices will be made by you that will affect the world of the humans in ways that even the Vampires can’t imagine. You must choose now or join your father in the afterlife.”
I blinked my eyes at the Goddess. She was shimmering among all three aspects as she looked at me. “I want… I want to be free.”
“Then your choice has been made,” the Goddess intoned.
“Watch for the signs, child. History will change you. Look for those that affect the world around them for the better. They are the ones you must nurture and protect. Look for the pivot point that will change your own future and set you free. The choice is yours. Freedom is the choice you have made. Live up to it.”
The triple Goddess faded from my sight, and Alukah took her place. Opening my eyes, I found the Vampire Lord hovering over me saying my name. “Aeliana? Are you there?”
He pulled away from me as I tried to get up. There was a smile on his face. “Excellent. You survived.”
Signaling to the servants, Alukah instructed them to untie me. They were the first living beings I could feel the life in. The blood in their veins called to me as their hearts pumped away in panic. My senses were alive, and I could hear for what seemed like miles.
“The ritual makes you feel God-like... doesn’t it? Can you feel their hearts beating? Does the blood call to you?” Alukah asked.
I knew from my training that young Vampires were subject to those of greater age and experience. Here in one of the oldest cities, I would be subject to almost all of the Royals here. I could not eat or drink without my Master’s permission. Of this Varro had warned me. To which I said a prayer that very day. It saved me a beating or far worse.
“It does, Master.” Closing my eyes, I savored the feeling but made no move toward the humans.
Alukah smiled and looked over his shoulder at the other Royals. They were hiding in the darkness, but I knew they were there. “Do you thirst, Aeliana? Will you make them yours?”
My own heart began to beat faster. Modern medicine has said that Vampire hearts beat around five beats per minute. Mine was trying to run a marathon. The blood was making me dizzy with desire. But I held it in check. “I do, Master. But you have not given me permission yet.”
Alukah chuckled. “Someone has been talking.” His smile didn’t extend to his eyes. They were like flint. Part of his fun in changing new Vampires was beating them down at birth. To him, it was part of the experience and a sexual trigger. Normal sexual desire was lost to us in the process. Only pain and suffering could bring about the same feelings.
I tried to keep my body still and my heart slow but it was a losing battle. My body twitched and trembled.
“Pick one and taste your future.” Alukah pointed to the trembling humans.
The closest to me was a human male not much older than me. My arm snaked out, and I pulled him to me. His trembling body and screams excited me. I gripped him tighter. My fingernails grew into claws, and I could feel them slice into the man’s arm like a knife guts a fish. Blood began to run from the wounds coating my hand. The smell of it filled the air, and I felt fangs drop from my mouth. I pulled him closer. The blood called to me. I could hear it pulsing through his veins. His neck throbbed as I pulled him closer still. Opening my mouth, fangs distended, I leaned forward to bite.
Alukah yanked my prey away from me. My claws still held his arm. The force of the experience pulled the limb from his body. The man’s lifeblood sprayed in all directions.
“Stop!” my Master called out.
The severed arm was clutched in my fist. I carefully licked the blood from my face, savoring every moment of the experience.
“You will obey me!”
I heard the words but didn’t heed them. The blood was so good. The taste consumed all thought and all meaning in my tiny world. Only the blows from the fists of my Master broke me from the ecstasy of it.
My first taste was my last for more than a week as I was locked in a sarcophagus as punishment. Disobedience could mean death in my new reality.
<<<>>>
“Mistress? Are you in here?”
Ivan’s voice once again broke me from my memories. If I was trapped in this damned house for any longer, I might have to kill someone. “I’m out here.”
Looking behind me I saw Ivan in the doorway. The night air felt good on my skin and the ocean calm. With my enhanced eyesight, I could make out the freighters out past the three-mile limit. It reminded me of my wartime visits. “What is it?”
Ivan bowed his head and stuttered. “I… I… I made a mistake.”
Pointing inside I shook my head. B
etter to shield this, whatever it is, from the furry neighbors.
“What?”
“I got a ticket.” He replied.
“So pay it. With all the tourists around here, everyone must get a ticket sometimes.”
“It wasn’t here in Pensacola. It happened in Dothan,” Ivan stated.
“Dothan.” I looked at him and frowned. “Before or after you picked me up?”
“Before. I was rushing to get to the bus station to meet you.”
My frown got deeper. I tried to remember how connected the Alabama police departments were. Did they wear the new body cams?
“Mistress, It was only a minor ticket. I can mail them the money instead of reporting to court. But they took my license and scanned it. I think they had cameras on them.” Ivan shook as he talked.
I ran my fingers through my hair. If only Ivan had been a stronger Magick user! Things like this wouldn’t happen. He could just zap them, and they would forget. “Which license did you give them?” I asked.
“Ivan Vasily. It was the first one I grabbed. I’m sorry.” He cringed away from me as if expecting a blow.
If they were looking for it, they would catch it. My fingers itched for a moment. It would be incredibly easy to log onto the internet and check. My backdoors into the FBI systems should still be undetected. Always have a backup plan. That was a Vampire motto. I braced both hands across the back of my neck and pulled. Slight snaps could be heard.
“Why did you do this?” I asked.
Ivan just cringed and fell to the floor.
I shook my head. “They will find us now. First the Weres and now a ticket. Are you working for me or for the FBI?”
“It was a rhetorical question, don’t worry.” I blew out a breath.
“Start packing. We’ll have to use the alternate location. Call the marina and have the boat readied. We will transfer our things in the morning.”
Ivan made a whimpering noise and didn’t get up from the floor.